Dolphin Candlestick c. 1936

Editor: This watercolor illustration, called "Dolphin Candlestick," was created by John Tarantino around 1936. It features a single candlestick in a rich purple hue. It’s making me think about how objects around us often blend functionality with decorative, symbolic forms. What can you tell me about how this image functions as a symbol? Curator: Consider how the dolphin form itself carries centuries of accumulated meaning. Dolphins have long been associated with guidance, protection, and transformation. They appear frequently in mythology, from the Greeks onward, as saviors and messengers. The dolphin is the bearer of souls to the beyond. So, how might these associations resonate with the object's intended use? Editor: As a candlestick? That's interesting... light guiding or protecting us from darkness, I suppose? Curator: Exactly! The candlestick, inherently linked to light, further reinforces that symbolic power. Light, of course, represents knowledge, hope, and spiritual illumination. Now, given that this piece falls within the Decorative Arts, what implications might arise from combining the sacred, archetypal dolphin and light symbols with a functional, domestic object? Editor: It feels almost like bringing the divine into everyday life. Or making something functional…magical. I hadn't thought of it that way, the layering of meanings on a simple object. Curator: Precisely. The designer intentionally utilizes inherited cultural symbols to enrich our sensory and psychological experience, turning a common object into a potential source of contemplation. We have light, an iconic animal, and how we engage with each become elevated. Editor: So it's about cultural memory embedded in these objects and images...fascinating. Curator: Absolutely. It invites us to reflect on the power of imagery to shape our understanding and experience of the world around us. The ordinary becomes extraordinary through symbolic resonance.